Safe
by TheGreenFairy4789
Summary: After Tobin races to save Silvia in her apartment, how could things have played out differently? Missing scene.
1. Safe

**Safe**

"_Silvia!_" Tobin screamed as he kicked in the door of her apartment.

Wildly, he looked all over her living room. He slid along one of the walls when he saw the man, whom he believed to be Gamba, and he fired his gun at him. The man had been too quick for him and dove behind another of Silvia's African accented walls. The bullet hit a mirror in her bedroom. Then a gunshot rang out from a different gun, and Tobin flew to the opposite wall to protect himself.

Within a matter of seconds, the two men began to play a deadly game of hide-and-seek. Tobin could only imagine what had happened to her. Was she in her bathroom? From the doorway he was leaning in he could hear the shower running and see steam coming from the bottom of the door. However, he heard no sound of someone in pain. Finally he could tell the man was going to make a run for the bathroom door and frantically Tobin fired his weapon through the wall separating the two of them.

Quickly, Tobin raced into the room and found him dead from two of his gunshots. The blood began to pool across one of Silvia's ornate rugs. Without a glance back, Tobin raced for the bathroom. Wrenching the door open, he could hardly make out anything. It was like fog and heat were all that existed. His heart raced as he pulled back the curtain that contained several bullet holes.

_Oh, God…_he thought silently as he saw she wasn't there. Relief flooded into him like an unknown force. He headed back into her bedroom, past the body of Gamba, and out onto her fire escape. He chastised himself immediately. Of course she wasn't there, he reasoned, because he would've seen her there from the apartment across the street. He raced through the rest of the house—kitchen, living room, closet; she was no where to be found.

"Damnit, Silvia," he breathed in frustration. Where had she gone?

After calling Woods and having her drive around the block twice, Tobin went home. All he knew was that she was "going home." After listening to the answering machine, he put his head in his hands in frustration. Gamba was dead, yet something didn't feel right. Gamba couldn't have been working alone in the assassination attempt. It would all be too convenient. And what about Silvia? She was in her apartment directly before the attack, (as Tobin had seen her go into the bathroom when he noticed Gamba enter into her apartment), but wasn't even there when it happened, as if she_ knew _it was going to happen.

"…Oh, Silvia," groaned Tobin, lost in his thoughts.

From out of nowhere he heard a small gasp, and spinning on his heels, Tobin saw the very woman who was invading his thoughts.

"_Silvia?_" he asked incredulously.

"I'm sorry," she muttered apologetically, standing only several feet behind him, as if she had just been approaching him.

"How did you get in here?" he questioned her, however, his tone had softened.

She waited a beat before answering. "I picked it."

Tobin just sighed, wary of what was coming.

"Are you staying?" he asked, almost conversationally.

He gestured to the couch in his living room and the pair silently sat down on it, completely aware of the other's presence and mood.

"Maybe for a little while…but I best be gone before morning—"

"Then who's going to protect you?" Tobin wanted to know.

Silvia looked to the side, out the window. Tobin had a crystal clear view of the city from his apartment, but no one to share it with, to gaze out at it beside him. She turned back to him, a nervous edge to her voice.

"I don't think I need protection anymore," she stated simply. "I'm going home."

"To Matobo?" Tobin caught on at once.

Silvia nodded in resignation. "I may not be safe there, but it's more dangerous for me to be here."

Tobin didn't know how to respond to that. _She was leaving. Leaving _me And just as suddenly as the subject was touched, Tobin changed it.

"Silvia, how did you know there was going to be a man in your apartment who was going to try and kill you?" there was pain in his voice on the last part.

Silvia visibly became upset. "I knew it would happen sooner or later—"

"I was right across the street; didn't you feel safe enough?" he threw back, bitterly. What had come over him?

"Don't you know there is no thing as 'safe enough'?" she retorted.

They gazed icily, or rather, _heatedly_, at one another for a long moment.

For the umpteenth time that day, Tobin let out a sigh.

"Silvia, what are you doing here?" it seemed to be the final question she was going to get from him, a man of few words.

So the woman of many words gave a simple response.

"Because I feel safe with you," the words had barely left her mouth and already she felt the air between them change.

The tension that the air had been wired with suddenly decreased and Tobin visibly relaxed. Silvia had become nervous once again and she slowly turned to look out at the cityscape. The night looked calm, calmer than she felt. She could feel Tobin's eyes boring into her skull, looking at her, memorizing her. _He's afraid to lose me_, she mused silently. _We've come so close together…_ The look in his eyes at the UN earlier that day would be burned into her memory forever. Philippe was dead, and he was forced to be the bearer of bad news. He had been strong for her, even when he didn't have much strength of his own left to give. The knowledge of her brother's death had been haunting her all day, but the assumption had been there for so long anyway, it didn't change much. However, the man sitting across from her had turned her world upside down in a matter of only a few days. How was she supposed to just walk away from it all after Zuwanie's imminent arrival the next day? How could she ever thank this man enough?

Silvia turned ever so slowly back and met his waiting mouth halfway. Tobin pressed his mouth to hers ever so delicately, as if he were unsure of how to kiss her. His hands roamed for the back of her neck to pull her closer, and she reached to put her arms around his waist to feel his warmth. He continued to kiss her, with a reserved passion, as if he didn't want to break her or scare her away.

Soon he opened his eyes to her eyes and she smiled a rare smile at him.

"Your jacket's soaking wet," she whispered, breaking the kiss.

He smirked at her; she must've been freezing, too, after all, there had been a rainstorm in the heat of it all. Tobin slid off the jacket of his suit and removed the cardigan she had over her blouse. He brought her onto his lap and encircled his arms around her long, lean body.

"That better?" he teased her.

"Yes, thank you."

Silvia gave him the first kiss this time, and it lingered for several minutes. After a long, calming silence had fallen over the two of them, Silvia broke the silence.

"Can I stay with you…tonight?" she asked warily.

Tobin loved the way her accent highlighted every word in the sentence—the pitch, the articulation. She was very serious in tone.

"Yes."

For a man whose wife had recently died, there was a sense of comfort from her that he could never have expected. Maybe he wasn't being honest with himself. But just as quickly as the thought had entered his mind, he admonished it. Laurie…had left him. She was going to come back to him, but it would only have been a matter of time before she was gone again. _Gone and dead…_He could not and would not compare Silvia to Laurie. Silvia was complex and mysterious. Laurie was…just a mystery. Silvia, as far he knew, was honest to herself, and how could Laurie have been that way if she were dancing between two different men?

"Tobin?" Silvia's query brought him out of his thoughts.

Somewhere between his last response and her question they had managed to lie down next to each other on his couch. Silvia reached out a hand to touch his hair.

"Yes, Silvia?" he answered.

"I know what you're thinking. And I won't ask you to reveal it, because I cannot expect anymore of you than I can expect from myself. But don't let it wear on your mind," she mildly advised, though she was sincere.

Tobin sincerely replied back, "It won't."

With that, he kissed her forehead, and pulled her body closer, to protect her.

* * *

So...what did you think?Please R/R! I would LOVE to hear from you!

**Side note**:Previously I found alot of the words to stick together and I had no idea why (I certainly hadn't typed them that way!) so I replaced the chapter and _voilia!_ I **hope**it's better, anyway.


	2. Touch and Go

**A/N**: Thanks to everyone who reviewed! I just felt there was more to write after the first part (which kind of leaves you hanging because you don't know how you wind up with Silvia on Tobin's couch to Silvia having disappeared again on Zuwanie's arrival)so here is the ending to satisfy me and you. Hope you enjoy and please R/R afterward! -----TheGreenFairy4789

**Part II–Touch and Go**

At around two in the morning, it became quite apparent to Tobin that someone else was sharing his black leather couch with him. A familiar perfume invaded his nostrils as he inhaled the scent of his companion. _Silvia..._ Yes, it was definitely Silvia Broome. His body was resting on hers a little too forcefully, so he shifted his weight ever so slowly to relieve her of any discomfort. But not slowly enough...

"Hmm..." Silvia murmured in her sleep. She sank closer to his body warmth.

"Hey," he whispered back.

"Hey," a groggy, throaty sound escaped her mouth.

Her long eyelashes lifted up toward his similarly questioning eyes. She arched an eyebrow in protest.

"How long have I been asleep?" she asked, slowly stretching to sit up. "Or rather, how long have you been watching me sleep?"

A small smile began to curve at her lips. It made Tobin mirror her actions.

"Well, you know, that is what I do best–watch people."

He leaned down, much more boldly than earlier that night, to kiss her before her smile faded. However, she scooted shyly away from him on the couch. The moment she moved out of his body heat she regretted it.

"Tobin–" she offered his name as an apology, but it came across as a scold.

"Don't–you don't have to..." he slid his legs onto the ground and put his head in his hands.

While running his hands through his hair, he realized the conversation they had flirted with earlier was going to happen now. And it scared him to no end. He had never been so vulnerable in his life to another woman's actions, and he knew that Laurie's death was just a contributing factor–not the whole reason.

"Tobin," she began delicately. "Edmond Zuwanie is arriving here tomorrow afternoon...and now that Gamba is dead..."

Tobin felt that she was having a struggle within herself. Was there remorse in her voice? It couldn't be. Silvia had said she didn't want Zuwanie to die, and now he truly believed her, but what else could she possibly mean by the tone of her voice?

"And now that Gamba is dead, Zuwanie won't be assassinated," Tobin finished for her, begrudgingly. "Same old, same old," and then he said the words he didn't think he'd ever say again to her: "I don't think you're telling me the truth."

Silvia shot him back a hurt expression, though inwardly she knew it was true. _What she was going to do tomorrow..._ Tobin had no idea. And that was the way she wanted it to remain. He'd never let her go through with her plan otherwise. However, she was dangerously close to slipping up with her plan and she decided it was time to leave, no matter how much it was going to hurt her. If things went according to schedule, she'd never see Edmond Zuwanie–Matobo's horrific "teacher"–again. Although, she'd never see Tobin Keller again, either.

"Why would I tell you it if it weren't the truth?" she sputtered, and he bristled, but then her tone softened. "The truth is...I'm leaving today. So I can't imagine that I'll–"

A pained expression came to his face, making her words stillborn, and he finally was able to hold her gaze. The sadness radiated from him in waves, and she stood up and grabbed her now dry cardigan from the edge of the coffee table. Tobin stood up with her, feeling his muscles tense with age and stress. He followed slowly behind her as she made her way to his door. Ever so softly she placed the sweater back on her arms, and Tobin reached out his arms to connect with her body again.

He gently slid his hands up and down her arms, warming her in a nervous habit of his that said, "_Don't go_." He brushed her bangs out of her face with one hand and he swallowed somberly.

"I can't believe I'm saying goodbye to you," he admitted, feeling his eyes well up.

"It's never really goodbye," she whispered, and he pulled her into a tight hug.

"It's not supposed to be goodbye..."

Silvia loosened her grip on him so that only her left hand was consumed in his right one. She pulled away from him and slowly looked him in the face. Uncertainty read across their faces like books. Unsure of himself, Tobin gritted his teeth in an attempt not to lose his cool. Silvia was impatient with him to let go of her hand, which he held in a vise-like grip, but at the same time, she just wanted him to _move _so that damn expectant look on his face would leave. Couldn't he see she was on the verge of tears? The verge of losing her nerve?

As if he had no restraint anymore, Tobin pulled Silvia back to him and kissed her with an urgency she had never felt from anyone before. She let out a little moan as she began to cry, realizing that this was all she would have left of him in her mind, and she didn't want it to end. Tears of his own began to mix with hers and no matter how hard he tried to keep her with him, he was losing the battle. If she would stay with him, it couldn't be because she felt grief for him and his own sorrows. God knew she had enough of her own. This was not the time for them to be together.

The intensity of their kissing had finally begun to dwindle and now he laid sweet kisses on her cheek, forehead, and eyes. He just didn't want to let go of her...

Silvia suddenly felt him pull away from her and an ill relief began to wash over her body. He was allowing her room to leave now. He had, to the best of his ability, accepted her departure. Without a word and only a long, meaningful glance of "_will I ever see you again?_" Silvia slipped out the door and down the elevator to wherever she was headed. Tobin could only gaze at the air that had once been occupied with her, in his still, dark and lonely apartment.

After sitting in the dark for two hours more, Tobin went up to his counter top and found his answering machine. After gazing at it for a long moment, Tobin deleted Laurie's last message home. What good would it do him just waiting there for him, haunting him? He went back to his couch and finally rolled over and slept, being able to smell the lingering scent of Silvia.

At about six, gray light began to shine through his large windows onto his face. Edmond Zuwanie would be arriving that very morning to speak to the General Assembly at the UN. Tobin's eyes were sore from the tears that had been shed only hours before. His face was lined with a hint of stubble and his clothes bore into him as he had slept uncomfortably in them the whole night.

A miserable feeling began to swell in the pit of his stomach. _She's really gone. I can't believe she's gone..._His eyes scanned to his coffee table and he saw a newspaper he had picked up the day before with a picture of the explosion remains of the bus on it. A thought dawned on him that gave him the slightest bit of hope.

Why would Silvia just leave the country...the very day the man who had her brother killed was visiting as a head of state, trying to keep the peace? It wasn't possible. Maybe there was a chance she would still be there–at the UN. If not, (as Tobin had been told what failed attempts on a man's life could due for his image) he needed to do his best to make sure nothing happened to Zuwanie. He owed her that much.

* * *

Well, I think that's the end for this "missing scene", though I know it won't be my last Interpreter fic! Hehe. Hopefully I haven't confused anyone with the plot...it's kind of twisted because the characters are so angsty, but really it only takes place over the period of one night (between Tobin killing Gamba and Zuwanie arriving at the UN) at Tobin's apartment. If you have any questions or comments, please leave me a review! I really appreciated the ones I received for just the first part of this; it made my day! ;-). 

Also, I noticed that after I had submitted my story, a lot of the words appeared to stick together, as if I hadn't put spaces inbetween them. I never write like that, and I certainly wouldn't have submitted it if I knew it looked like that...so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this story comes out perfect! Lol.

TheGreenFairy4789


End file.
